Repeating clock.



No. 660,075. I Patented 00L I6, |900. W. JENSEN.

REPEATING CLOCK.

(Apphcatxon iiled Aug. 2, 99.) oooooo I.) 3 Sheets-Sheet I Patented Oct.I6, |900.

w. JENSEN.

REPEATING CLOCK.

(Application filed Aug. 2, 1899.) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

No. 060,075. Patented 0st. l0, |900. w. JENSEN.

`REPEATING CLOCK.

` (Application led Lug. 2, 1899 (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM JENSEN, 0F oI-IIoAso, ILLINOIS.

REPEATING CLOCK.

SrEcIFIcATIoN forming part of Letters Patent No. 060,075, dates octoberie, 1900.

Application filed August 2, 1899.

To cir/ZZ whom it may concern:

'Beit known that I, WILLIAM JENSEN, a citi- Zen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Repeater-Clocks, whichare fully set forth in the following specification, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, and in which-Figure 1 shows a front view of a clock to which my new strikingmechanism is attached, the bell thereto being shown in section, theclock-front being removed. Fig. 2 shows the back of the clock, on whichis seen a pointer for fractional parts of hours. Fig. 3 shows a top viewof the mechanism shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a part of the clock-back beingbroken away to show other parts in place. Fig. 4 shows the striking-pawland its wheel, together with the vibrating plate or bellcrank lever onwhich the striking-pawl is mounted, the other parts being removed. Fig.5 shows the stepped bell-snail and the stepped hour-snail, the severalparts in position at the end of the vfifth hour, the intermediate pawl,which measures the number of bell-strokes, being still in contact wit-hthe hour-snail, the normal position of said pawl being shown in Fig. 1.Fig. 6 shows the bellsnail in a position reversed to that shown in Fig.5. Fig. 7 shows the striking-wheel with its pawl and spring holdingmechanism seen on the reversed side. Fig. S shows the spring and pawlholding plate of Fig. 7 on the reversed side, the striking wheel beingremoved. Fig. 9 shows in perspective the lever which regulates thestriking mechanism, which is also shown in Figs. 1 and 4. Fig. 10 showsin perspective the striking-hammer and its mechanism cooperating withthe strikingpawl and other parts of the mechanism. Fig. 11 showsfragments of the time-cam and intermediate pawl t' on an enlarged scaleto more clearly illustrate the operation of the vibratable lever a andpawl-spur 5 with the hour-snail. Fig. 12 shows a sectional View of mymechanism cut on the axial planes of the shafts h and m and a section ofthe front dial and its hands and a rear dial partly in Serial No.725,834. (No model.)

section and its frictionally-adjustable miliute-hand also in sectionalview.

Like letters of reference denote like parts.

The object of my invention is to make a striking clock mechanismapplicable to any clock now on the market and wherewith can be told thetime by the blind or those who are in the dark to within aninconsiderable fraction of the hour. ToA attain said desirable ends, Iconstruct my said mechanism in substantially the following manner,namely:

To the framework A of an ordinary clock I attach a vibratable bell-cranklever a, pivoted on the mainspring-shaft B of the clock, and aboutvertically above said shaft I provide a shaft b, having a knob b', bywhich it is turned against the action of a spiral spring b2, wound onsaid shaft, (see arrow at Fig. 5,) one end of said spring being fastenedto said shaft, while the other end thereof is extended upward andhitched over the spur c of the hammer-yoke c, which latter plays looselyon said shaft b, passing through a hole c2. The hook h3 of the springend hitohes into a notch at the end of a horizontal arm c3 of the yokec, on which is a vertical arm c4, terminating in a bell-hammer c5. Saidyoke c is close against the frame A behind the deep-toothedstrikingwheel d,throngh whose hole d passes the shaft h, upon which itturns freely, as does also freely turn on said shaft the toothed wheeld, and into the teeth of said wheel d plays a clickingpawl e2, pivotedto the disk e, Whose free end is depressed toward the shaft b by thespring e3, attached to the disk e, whose free end e* reaches over andrests on said pawl, and said toothed wheel d also receives and actuatesthe free end of the right-angled striking-pawl f, pivoted in the plate aon the lever end opposite to that of the pawl iatf, and upon the topedge of the free end of said strikingpawl f and near its free end reststhe rightangled spur cf", forming a part of the yoke o. The action ofthe spring b2 and spur o and the position of the edge of said pawl tosaid spur brings and constantly holds the end edge of said striking-pawlf in contact with a tooth of the striking-wheel d. Outside of said diske and securely fastened to the shaft b is bell-snail g, whereof itscompanion-the hour-snail h-may be fastened to the hourhand wheel or anywheel turning synochrol nously therewith, as does in this case the Wheelno, actuated through the intermediate .e and to which said cam 7L isfastened.

The snail g has a wiper-arm whose face g slides on the cam-surface t" ofthe doublefaced and double-acting pawl t', vibrating on a pivot j onsaid lever a both vertically and horizontally, and through saidwiper-face by the action of the spring h2 said pawl i is constantlybrought and held in contact with the snail g, its obtuse-anglednotch-face g2 restingin one of the twelve notches g3 of the cam edge g.The time-snail h also has twelve notches h', which on both snails aremeasured by twelve equal angles of thirty degrees at the cam-axis, andeach of said snails g 7L being of involute form said twelve notches willbe of constantly-increasing length between successive longer radii. Saidpawl c' has on the edge opposite to that on which the spur g2 is locateda spur i5, whose under edge 4 is somewhat longer than the edge h2 of thecam h, so as to permit that end of the tooth to touch the bottom of thenotch at the end of said long edge h2. Said vibratable or bellcranklever a has opposed spurs a2 on its lower n1ember,which straddle theframe-plate of the frame A to guide itin its motion, and in its uppermember are oblong holes a to pass studs and allow it to vibrate, and onthe center arbor, which drives the minute-hand, is a cam-faced arm 7c ona ring which surrounds and closely fits said pinion, its spur 7e'passing between two teeth to hold it at its set position. The end ofsaid arm is an arc of a circle whose edge slides over the cam edge a3 ofthe lever a from the point a, which it depresses and holds down, asshown, during a part of the time of its revolution and until it leavesit at the beginning of the radially farther edge a4.

The camsface of the arm 7c is made of sufficient length to hold thecam-face a3 in its lowest position, and thereby bring the spur below theline @c no, corresponding with the radial edge of the notch h' then onsaid line and which is the line at which the relative positions of theparts i5 and 7L change. Previous to said change the spur 5 would riseabove said line through the depression of the pawl f at the other end ofthe lever a and continue to do so until the said cam-faces 7a and c3engage. Said two cam-faces hold thelever a down, and with it the spuri5, so as to safely clear the radial edge of the notch 7L of the timesnail h. l/Vhen said cam faces 7u a3 have released the lever d-say aftertwenty minutes-the time-cam has gone forward so far that the spur cannotquite reach the radial edge of the notch h and cause said spur to stick,and before the time-cam has gone far enough to allow the spur to passbelow the radial edge of the next time-notch 7L the cam-faces 7; a3engage fully in less than one minute by passing over the point canifacea and then hold thelever a locked, causing the spur to pass into thenext notch and allow the bell to strike the next hour, and so on. Theobject of said alternate locking and releasing mechanism is, first, toovercome both the looseness and inaccuracy of cheap clock mechanism and,second, to prevent the opposed faces of the spurs and 7L from coming inclose frictional contact on the line 5c and thereby causing the spur tostick.

On the rear of the shaft which carries the minute-handis a hand orpointer Z, frictionally adjustable to its proper place, to serve to show'where the position of the minute` hand is on the clock-face, and whichmay thereby be located within a few minutes of the correspondentminute-hand by feeling it with the iingers. rlhe snail 7L moves with thehour-hand. Turning the knob b, as indicated, winds up the spring, whichwhen released throws the cam-surface g" on the inclined edge or cam-facet, and thereby draws the pawl z' against the cam g into its normalposition. Whenever it is desired to ascertain the time, the knob Z1 isturned slowly, thus passing the spur g" from notch to notch on the snailg and at the same time clicking the striking-pawl f from tooth to toothon wheel d, whereby through yoke c and spring b2 the'hammer c5 strikesthe bell c7 a blow for each notch of the wheel d, which actuates saidpawl f, and whereby for each bell-stroke the pawl 'L' is advanced anotch g3 on the snail g toward the cam h until finally the face of thespur 5 touches the snail h and the turning of the snail g and wheel diis arrested, the number oi' bell-strokes thus prof duced telling thehour.

Although the true position of the upper edge of the spur is at the line:1; fr, it is practically never there when at its work, but either aboveor below said line a distance which will insure against the wedging orinterlocking of the upper edge of the spur i5 with any of the radialedges of the notches of the time-snail. The distance between the brokenoutline ot' the spur i5 and its place in full lines (see Fig. l1)indicates the motion up and down imparted to the pawl fil through thelever a and striking-pawlf through its connections. Said spur willtherefore work above said line rc n; some distance, when, were it notfor such lcver action, it should be down, so that the upper edge of thespur t5 would engage with the radial edge of the notch h of cam h, wherethe change from one hour-notch to the next occurs. By means of thisconstruction it is brought so far below the line a' fr at the time thechange takes place of passing from one to another of said notches as toavoid all possible chance of sticking. The hour-snail 7L has aradially-arched slot, through which passes a screw to bind it to thewheel, as wheel ne, and in said slot is a spring ,s to aid lOO IIO

in the adjustment of said cam. The snail g has a hole m and the disk e aspur m', which enters said hole m and causes said two parts to movetogether. As the snail g cannot complete a revolution, the wheel d musthave enough teeth to supply twelve consecutive strokes at one time insuch partial revolution on shaft h. The spring b2 throws the hammer c5against the bell. lt also holds the striking-pawl against thestriking-wheel d., and it also returns the cam g and pawl il to theirnormal positions. There is a spur on on the bell-snail, which enters ahole m of the disk e to hold said parts together. The single shaft mpasses through the dials 0 and 0 and carries the hourhand u andminutehands u and Z.

What I claim is- 1. The combination with an adjustable hour-snail and astriking mechanism, of a bell-snail and a paWl between said hour-snailand bell-snail, actuated by said bell-snail and stopped by saidhour-snail, substantially as specified.

2. The combination with a time mechanism an hour-snail and a bell-snailand striking mechanism, of a pawl between said snails reciprocated bysaid bell-snail and stopped by said hour-snail, substantially asspeoiied.

3. The combination with a time mechan ism and a striking mechanism, ofanuhoursnail and a bell-snail provided with a wiperface and awiper-faced reciprocable pawl be# tween said snails, substantially asspecified.

4. The combination with a time mechanism and a striking,` mechanism, ofan hoursnail and a bell-snail and mechanism to actuVn ate saidbell-snail in one direction and means to return said snail,automatically, to its starting-point, substantially as specified.

5. The combination with a time mechanism and a striking` mechanism andtime-dials whereof one is provided with the common time-hands, of adial-hand synchronous with the minute-hand of said common time-hands to,palpably, indicate the fractional parts of an hour in its completerevolution, substan# tially as specied.

VILLIAM JENSEN.

Vitnesses:

XVn. ZIMMERMAN, GEO. W. JENKs.

